First Tools in the Box
In order to be able to construct my first example I needed some tools. Although most of the examples provided are in C# I am not really a C# programmer. Consequently I decided to use VB and rely on my skills of reading C# code and translating it into VB code. Luckily some of the examples in the OpenXML 2.0 SDK are VB based.
As I do not have a copy of Visual Studio I opted for the Express versions (Microsoft Express Tools) specifically Visual C# Express 2008 and Visual Basic Express 2008.
OpenXML files are compressed wrappers for several files and folders. These outer wrappers are called packages. It is necessary to be able to view openXML packages in their natural environment (i.e. Office 2007 or later) and then to be able to view the "insides" of these packages to better understand how they work. I already have Office 2007 installed so I had a tool for generating documents that I could reverse engineer.
OpenXML documents can be opened by Winzip however the following process is required:
- Open WinZip
- Open the openXML document as an archive
- Select the element of the document to be viewed
- Right Click and open in either Notepad or an XML viewer
Although I have Winzip I felt that this is a cumbersome process. A little "googling" revealed a small utility that allows the user the view the insides of a package. This is called, strangely, PackageExplorer.
Armed with these basic tools I set forth on the expedition of building my first OpenXML package.
